A Texas County man is jailed and faces a felony arson charge after being accused of setting fire to a relative’s house last Saturday in Yukon.
Ryon G.P. Brown, 29, of 5358 Big Creek Road at Yukon, is charged with first-degree arson (a class B felony) after allegedly burning the two-story house he was in the process of being evicted from.
According to a probable cause statement submitted to the county prosecutor by a sheriff’s department deputy, a state fire marshal who had been called in to investigate a suspicious blaze determined a chemical accelerant had been poured on the floor of the residence where the fire began. The officer stated that an open can of varnish was found at the scene and was believed to be that accelerant.
Brown reportedly went to a neighbor’s house and told a man living there that he had set the fire. When authorities made contact with Brown, he was found wearing clothing that had an odor matching that of the varnish. Officers observed that hair on both of his arms was burned from his hands to his elbows, and his eyebrows and a patch of hair on his forehead were scorched.
Raymondville Fire Department Chief Mike Jackson said a total of six trucks and 12 firefighters from three departments responded to the fire after the call came in at about 11:15 p.m. (Summersville and Tyrone included).
Jackson said the fire originated in Brown’s own upstairs bedroom, and that the blaze was snuffed before it spread beyond that room.
“It was basically contained to the room and its contents,” Jackson said. “The house was shut up, so the fire was ventilation-limited. We flowed very little water; maybe only about 500 gallons.”
Nobody else was in the house when the fire began, Jackson said, and firefighting personnel remained on scene until about 5:30 a.m. when the fire marshal had completed his investigation.
The reporting officer stated Brown had recently made statements to the relative who owned the home that he intended to burn it down. Brown is held on $250,000 bond.